The Toxic Avenger
The Toxic Avenger is a 1984 low budget superhero and horror film produced by Troma Entertainment. Over the years, it has developed a cult following. The film has three sequels and a spinoff children's television show called "Toxic Crusaders". Plot Melvin Ferd III, a stereotypical 98-pound weakling, works as a janitor at the Tromaville Health Club in the fictional Tromaville, New Jersey. There, he is tormented by his customers Bozo, Slug, Wanda and Julie. The Mayor of Tromaville is Peter Belgoody, who, unknown to the citizens of the town, is also the leader of a massive Tromaville crime ring, but hides this fact by promoting good will and proposed justice to the town as a cover-up. As days go by, Melvin's tormentors grow more and more violent, even killing a young boy on a bike in a hit and run and taking photos of the carnage afterwards. Finally one day, they trick Melvin into wearing a pink tutu and kissing a sheep. He is chased around the health club by other customers and jumps out of a second story window. He lands in a drum of toxic waste which immediately causes severe burns and disfigurement. Despite the burning chemicals even causing him to burst into flames, Melvin survives and stumbles home. Drawing a bath to try and scrub some of the chemical residue from his horribly scarred flesh, Melvin begins his transformation into a hideously deformed creature of superhuman size and strength. Elsewhere, a group of drug dealers led by the criminal Cigar Face are harassing a police officer by the name of O'Clancy, trying to buy him off. When he refuses to accept the money, Cigar Face and his gang attack and brutalize him. Then, just as Cigar Face prepares to castrate Officer O'Clancy with his gun, a large creature comes out of nowhere and violently kills Cigar Face's goons Knuckles and Nipples, and leaves a mop on their faces as a call sign. Cigar Face survives, but has had his testicles smashed by the creature before escaping. O'Clancy is initially terrified of the creature but soon learns he was only trying to help him as the creature approaches him and politely apologizes for his behavior as he has "never done this sort of thing before". The officer's rescuer, dubbed the "Monster Hero", is the now-profoundly mutated Melvin. He tries to return home, but his mother ends up fainting upon the sight of him. Wracked with sorrow, the Monster Hero builds a makeshift home in the junkyard. Mayor Belgoody is shocked at the deaths of some of his goons, but is still confident that the Monster will not come looking for him, hoping that one of his goons will kill him eventually. Elsewhere in Tromaville, three men named Leroy, Frank and Rico hold up a Mexican fast food restaurant. Leroy kills one of the patrons and Frank attacks a blind woman named Sara after Leroy kills her guide dog. Frank attempts to rape her, but is attacked by the Monster Hero, who ends up ripping off Frank's right arm. He wreaks bloody vengeance on the three men: Leroy is first covered in whipped cream (and a cherry) before having a milkshake stirrer rammed into his throat, Rico has his hands and wrists plunged into a deep-fryer and Frank is stuffed in an oven. The Monster Hero takes Sara back to her home, where they begin to get to know one another and progressively fall in love. The Monster Hero returns to the Health Club, killing a drug dealer by crushing his face with a weight-lifting machine. There, he attacks popular girl Wanda. Afterwards, the Monster is relieving himself in a back alley when a limo pulls up and a pimp tries to push a 12-year-old girl onto him. When he starts to fight back to save the girl, a group of men come out of the limo. He fights them all off and saves the girl. The Monster Hero soon starts building up a friendly reputation in Tromaville by doing all sorts of "superhero" work from saving two younger boys from being run over by Bozo's car to even helping the elderly to cross the street. Meanwhile, Mayor Belgoody is becoming more and more aware about what is happening to his goons as not only are they being killed one by one by the Monster Hero, but some of them are also turning themselves over to the police for their own safety. He is now worried that their deaths will lead up to him sooner than he expects and wants the Monster Hero to be taken care of. One night, Cigar Face returns (covered in bandages and casts) and brings along a new group of Belgoody's goons to surround the Monster with guns. Before they fire on him, he jumps up to a fire escape and they end up shooting and killing each other with Cigar Face getting away. The Monster Hero returns to the health club again and attacks Julie. Soon afterwards, he confronts the last of his tormentors, Bozo and Slug, who have attacked an old woman and stolen her car when Julie doesn't show up. Bozo and Slug try to run him over, but the Monster jumps on top of the car and grabs Slug crushing his neck and throwing him out of the moving car. The Monster Hero then confronts Bozo by grabbing him by the face and terrifies him by revealing himself as Melvin from the accident to a horrified Bozo. After several accidents that occur because of Bozo's driving, the Monster tears off the wheel to the car causing Bozo to drive off the side of a cliff. The car crashes and bursts into flames burning Bozo alive, but unaffecting the monster. One day, when the Monster Hero kills a seemingly innocent old midget woman in a dry cleaning store (it is later revealed that she is in fact a leader of an underground white slave trade) by throwing her into the store's washing machine, the Monster Hero wanders back to his junkyard home revealing his true identity to Sara and feeling terrified and guilty for what he has become. Sara however tells Melvin that she still loves him no matter what he looks like and the two decide to move away from the city and take a tent into nearby woods. However, Belgoody finds out about the Monster Hero's "mishap" and uses this opportunity to call in the National Guard in hopes of finally killing him. Soon Sara and the Monster are discovered in the woods and now surrounded by both the National Guard and the townspeople. Mayor Belgoody comes intent on killing him (whereas the National Guard's request was originally for capture). But thanks to the Monster's kind duties to the town, the people of Tromaville including the Monster Hero's mother will have none of it. Mayor Belgoody's evil ways are exposed after he threatens to kill O'Clancy for trying to take his gun away from him. The Monster Hero then kills Mayor Belgoody by ripping out his organs to see if he has "any guts". The film ends with the townspeople's celebration at the Monster's acceptance and a reassuring epilogue that wherever evil brews in Tromaville, Melvin the Monster Hero, now dubbed the "Toxic Avenger", will be there to protect the town. Cast *Mitch Cohen as The Toxic Avenger *Mark Torgl as Melvin Ferd *Kenneth Kessler as The Toxic Avenger (voice) *Andree Maranda as Sara *Pat Ryan Jr. as Mayor Peter Belgoody *Sarabel Levinson as Mrs. Ferd *Dan Snow as Cigar Face *Dick Martinsen as Officer O'Clancy *Gary Schneider as Bozo *Robert Prichard as Slug *Jennifer Babtist as Wanda *Cindy Manion as Julie *Chris Liano as Walter Harris *David N. Weiss as Chief of Police *Doug Isbecque as Knuckles *Charles Lee, Jr. as Nipples *Pat Kilpatrick as Leroy *Larry Sulton as Frank *Michael Russo as Rico *Al Pia as Tom Wrightson *Dennis Souder as Drug Dealer *Xavier Barquet as Man Killed in Restaurant *Reuben Guss as Dr. Snodburger *Matt Klan as Boy Hero *Dominick J. Calvitto as Skippy, Boy on Bicycle Production The film was produced on a budget of $500,000 and the film project did not initially have a title. Most of the indoor film scenes were shot in an abandoned hospital near the director's hometown. Release and Reception Many of the more violent scenes were cut from the original film to lower the rating of the film to an R in order to reach a larger target market. The initial test screenings of the film were a disappointment. The film itself was picked up by a distribution company in France and was overseas long before it was seen in the US. The cartoon spin off series Toxic Crusaders was rather successful in the US and reached 96% of US markets. The film was given mixed reviews scoring in the mid 60s for both audience and critic reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. Trailer External links * * * * Category:Films Category:1980s Category:1984 films Category:Troma Category:Sexploitation Category:Gore